E-Filing a Bingo-Raffle License Renewal

Please remember, if you wish to continue to conduct charitable games of chance in 2020, you will need to renew your Bingo-Raffle license for 2020 before starting or continuing any games into 2020. All 2019 Bingo-Raffle licenses expired December 31, 2019. The Secretary of State's office encourages groups to file online. If renewing online, the licensee can access their online account and use the “renew” link on their account’s summary page. Please do not create a new account as these filings will need to be rejected and resubmitted through your already existing account.

When filing online, the system will only accept credit or debit cards; we do not have ACH or the ability to directly transfer funds from your accounts. The card, however, does not have to be linked directly to the bingo-raffle account. A personal card could be used (we do not retain any card information once the submission is made to our office), and then be reimbursed from the bingo-raffle account (we will need adequate descriptions on the schedule A that the reimbursement was for a “loan” to repay the person using their personal card for this payment). Also, the group has the option of obtaining a prepaid card where it can be loaded with the appropriate amount to cover the payment.

Reminder: Mandatory Online Filing of Manufacturer, Supplier and Agent Licenses

Since 2019, all Manufacturer, Supplier and Agent license applications have been required to be submitted electronically. There are training guides available on our website as follows:

• here for Manufacturers,
• here for Suppliers,
• here for Manufacturer Agent, and
• here for Supplier Agent

These licenses can be renewed any time after February 1 for the 2020 license year (Manufacturer and Supplier licensee filings must also have submitted their 1st quarter reports before renewals will become available). If you have any questions or concerns regarding accessing the system, please contact Shannon Bee at 303 894 2200 x 6406. New Manufacturer, Supplier and Agent applicants can also access the system for the initial submission of the application and creation of your online account here.

A Note From the Secretary of State's Office Regarding the Upcoming U.S. Census

Just as a reminder, the U.S. Census is coming:

• The Census is important, easy and safe.
• Census Day is officially April 1, 2020, but you can fill out your Census when you receive a postcard in the mail or a form at your door in early March 2020
• The Census is a count of all people living in the United States on April 1st and is conducted every 10 years
• Colorado is allocated $13B per year in federal funding from 55 federal programs statewide (healthcare, school lunch programs, business loans, Pell Grants, public libraries, WIC, Public housing, SNAP, veterans programs, etc.)
• Colorado stands to gain an additional Congressional seat if we obtain a full count in Census 2020
• 9 questions, takes 10 minutes, but impacts the next 10 years of your life

Why Can't I File an Electronic Quarterly Report?

If your organization is trying to file your quarterly report electronically, but do not see one “available” for filing, the following may have occurred:

1. Previous quarter is still open. You cannot file your next quarter report if the previous quarter is still open. If your prior filing shows “reject”, you will need to resubmit the filing with the corrected information. We will need to approve this correction BEFORE your next quarter report will become available. If your filing has been rejected and resubmitted, your organization will receive a verification from our office, if and when the filing is approved. This will notify you that the next report is now available. Please be diligent and be sure your report has been approved by our office to mitigate timing issues and avoid possible late filings, which may cause fines to be instituted against your organization.
2. Rejected quarter is still outstanding/open. If a rejected filing remains open, even if you file the next quarter by paper, our office will not be able to enter the paper report until the prior quarter has been re-filed and accepted electronically. If the rejected filing has not been accepted by the deadline of the next due quarterly, the organization will still receive a fine for a late filing as our office cannot override the rejected status of your prior filing.
3. Organization is not currently licensed. If you do not see a quarterly available, or in a rejected status, it would mean your organization is not currently licensed to conduct games, and therefore, would not owe any quarterly (as you should not be conducting activity without a license). If you know your organization is currently licensed, but do not see any available or rejected status quarterlies, contact our office at 303 894 2200 and ask for assistance.

Year End Reporting

We estimate the total gross amount wagered in 2019 to be $124,550,000, comparable with previous years. The net profit percentage is estimated at 24%, up slightly from the 2017 and 2018. Net profit has not fluctuated much in most games with the exception of progressive raffles, with an estimated increase of nearly 10%.

Games Manager Training

Your organization must have at least one certified Games Manager in order to run charitable games. We recommend licensees maintain more than one Games Manager. To support this, we offer in-person and online Games Manager training courses.

Sign up for the online eLearning course on our website.

For in-person classes, visit our Games Manager Training page and follow the instructions to sign up for a scheduled class.

The dates/times/places of upcoming Games Manager training classes follow:

Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 8:30 AM. VFW 1781, 603 Lesser Dr, Fort Collins, CO 80542.

Saturday, February 22, 2020 at 8:00 AM. American Legion 1, 5400 E Yale Ave, Denver, CO 80222.

Saturday, March 7, 2020 at 8:30 AM. Lions Kirk, 3237 County Rd M, Kirk, CO 80824.

Wednesday, March 18 2020 at 5:30 PM. FO Eagles 3367, 704 Elmhurst Pl, Pueblo, CO 81004

Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 5:00 PM. BPO Elks 309, 3400 N Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80933

You can also sign up to host a Games Manager training course. Follow this link to provide us with a few details about you and your organization, and host a class soon.

The Games Manager mail-in certification exam is no longer available.

Investigator Tips

Each quarter, we include a few tips from our Bingo/Raffle Investigators. They gather a lot of information in the field with areas where licensees have compliance challenges. By sharing this information, we hope that licensees can better serve their customers.

A MESSAGE FROM THE INVESTIGATORS:

We have received questions about withholding prize money from a progressive raffle from a person if they do not present their identification. The bottom line is you cannot.

There are provisions in the tax code to take out a backup withholding amount of 24% in the case that a player does not furnish their taxpayer identification number, (TIN), to the licensee. You can find that information in the IRS Publication 3079, Tax-Exempt Organizations and Gaming. There is a link to that publication on our website here. Rule 8.4.1(b)(5) states that “If the ticket purchaser selects the envelope containing the Jackpot Prize Card, the ticket purchaser wins the raffle prize amount…”. It does not provide for a house rule denying payment of a prize if the winner does not supply a TIN.

Likewise, a licensee cannot retain the jackpot prize at any time. If the jackpot prize has not been awarded, Rule 8.4.5 applies. Either the jackpot prize is: 1) Awarded; 2) Awarded to the first player whose ticket was drawn after it reached the jackpot limit; or 3) determination of a winner by drawing raffle tickets until a drawn winner selects the jackpot prize card. Rule 8.4.5(4) allows a licensee to award a jackpot in this same manner if the licensee has imposed a must-go limit less than the $15,000 limit.

You can access all bingo/raffle laws using our Bingo-Raffles Law Handbook. Please feel free to contact our office with any questions.